Driftwood
by Lemon Drop of Doom
Summary: Petunia always knew she belonged at Hogwarts, with Lily. Then she recieves a letter offering her a chance to prove herself as a teacher at Hogwarts... the night before her wedding. Can Petunia take charge of her own life? How will Lily feel? T for lang
1. Chapter 1: No Looking Back

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter—I don't even own the basic plot of this story! So yeah…**

**Chapter One: No Looking Back**

Lily Evans glared out the window of the Hogwarts Express, her head pounding. She considered finding Severus and asking if he happened to have a pain relieving drought on him, but grimly realized that no _legal_ potion would stop Potter's inane chattering. She had been minding her own business, going over the details of the Prefects' duties with Remus, when Potter had entered, declaring "I just thought you all should know… there is a Full Moon tomorrow night."

This awe-inspiring and completely relevant announcement was quickly followed by a compliment on Lily's summer tan, an invitation to join him for drinks in Hogsmeade, and a detailed list of James' various "impressive" under-takings accomplished over the holiday. It was about thirty seconds into this that Lily's head began to ache.

She began to miss the luxury of being free from James Potter for two uninterrupted months, despite the stress that had made her miserable all summer. The whole house had been walking on egg shells to keep Petunia from rearing her head in a classic image of Bridezilla, ever since her engagement had been announced. Add that to the stress that came with planning the wedding itself, and Lily wanted to pull her hair out. She still couldn't believe that in a few short weeks Petunia Evans was going to become Petunia Dursley, and the wife of a man (several years older than she) who worked at a drill company. At the tender age of nineteen. Lily shook her head at the thought. Petunia couldn't possibly love that bore of a man, no matter what her mother said. She was settling into a life she didn't even _know_ she didn't want. Even with their sisterly relationship consisting of silence on Lily's part, and whispered insults on Petunia's, Lily knew her older sister. If Lily had half a mind, she would stop that wedding from happening at any cost. As it were, Petunia had made it more than clear that Lily and her opinions weren't welcome in her life any longer, so Lily resigned herself to just sit by and watch, praying for miracles.

James' voice suddenly boomed around in the train compartment, snapping her out of her reverie. "Evans, why aren't you listening to me?!"

She shook all thoughts of her sister out of her head, and brought herself back to the present. 'Like an attention-seeking toddler, I swear…' She thought to herself. Out loud, she snapped "Because it's you," then, turning to Remus, "I'm going to get my trunk, we're starting to slow down. See you later,"

James smiled as she left, still completely confident despite the insult. "I love a girl who plays hard to get," he said, more to himself than to Remus.

"I don't think she's playing." He replied, a small smirk on his lips.

Like magic, Lily's headache went away as soon as she left Potter's presence. When the train pulled in to the station, she was so well recovered to actually be in a pretty good mood. She would soon be in her element, surrounded by her friends and her ever-reliable books, and wouldn't have to deal with the wedding business again until she actually attended the ceremony itself. She found herself waving cheerfully at her old classmates and warmly smiling at the first years who stumbled off the train with their eyes wide from fear and excitement.

She climbed into the nearest carriage, beaming when she found herself sitting next to Whitney Bloom, one of the girls who shared her dorm and her closest friend. "Whitney! How was Greece?" She wrapped her arms around a surprised Whitney, who grinned back.

"It was fantastic! The boys there were to die for!" She shook out her wavy, sun-lightened blonde hair, a rather vain habit that used to severely annoy Lily. "Why didn't you answer any of my letters? We were going to make plans to meet up somewhere before boarding so we could sit together!"

Lily's smile faltered slightly. "My sister… Since she is getting married in two weeks, she is apparently entitled to do whatever she wishes—including locking up Lulu in her cage all summer." Lulu herself rustled her feathers from the cage in Lily's lap, as if shaking off the memory.

Whitney nodded sympathetically. She had been friends with Lily these past four years, and had witnessed Petunia's increasingly antagonistic behavior towards her little sister. Being an only child, however, she could hardly empathize, and changed the subject back to the fabulous Greek boys she'd encountered, to Lily's relief. She would rather not think about those un-pleasantries any longer.

The two girls sat next to each other in the Great Hall, talking mostly about Whitney's visit to Greece—just one of the Bloom family's many travels, as they preferred to spend their impressive amounts of money abroad, and the already established and thereby stress-free details of Petunia and Vernon's wedding.

Then the sorting started, and Lily had to smile to herself at the memory of her own sorting. The hat had whispered into her ear compliments she had never applied to herself. He'd said that she had the intelligence and ambition to succeed in Ravenclaw, but that her courage and strength of heart played a bigger role in her life and she would therefore do even better in Gryffindor. It was rather surreal to hear someone tell you they saw these heroic qualities in yourself, almost as if she were auditioning to be in a dramatic film. She was just plain old Lily Evans, with the freckles, green eyes, and the long red hair—not any of the things the hat believed she was. Still, she was flattered all the same, and her being sorted into Gryffindor turned out to be a good thing, since it introduced her to Whitney.

The sorting ended with a smirking boy named Harold Zambini being sorted into Slytherin, and then Dumbledore stood to speak.

"Good Evening, boys and girls! To you first years, welcome! To the rest of you, welcome back! Before you enjoy the feast and stuff yourselves till you can hardly keep your eyelids open, I'd like to make a few announcements. There are a few additions to the staff this year—firstly, Mr. Filch's new assistant in caretaking, Mrs. Norris." He gestured towards the door of the Great Hall, where Filch was standing as per usual with a grimace on his face. The entire room turned in their seats to see the addition, but were immediately confused as there was nobody there besides Filch. Whispers echoed around the room, people wondering if she had fallen through the trick step in the staircase, or if she had gotten lost, already. Then Lily saw the striped tail flick behind Filch's boots, and she let out an uncharacteristic giggle. She knew Dumbledore liked to have an interesting staff, but hiring a _cat_? What did he pay her with—yarn balls?

Sure enough, Filch picked up the cat and stroked her on the head a few times, provoking the room to break out into hysterical laughter, positive that Dumbledore was playing a joke on them. The patient but firm look on his face said otherwise.

When the laughter died down to a few embarrassed coughs, Dumbledore continued. "Also, our beloved Professor Chang has retired this summer, and until her place as Professor of Muggle Studies is filled, you will be in the capable hands of Miss Redding." He nodded at a slightly overweight woman who sat on Hagrid's left, blushing madly at the attention. Lily frowned, wondering how long they would have this substitute, and whether or not her grade in the class would suffer as a result. Dumbledore made eye contact, and, as if reading her mind, declared, "I expect the permanent replacement to arrive in approximately two weeks." He winked at Lily, whose eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What other meaning did Dumbledore expect her to glean from his statement? Lily shook her head. She had probably just imagined the wink.

Dumbledore continued with his usual reminders, many of them aimed at the Marauders, though he never said names, but soon he was done, and the plates were filling up with food like she had seen them do countless times, and Lily happily realized that she was home.

As the cliché goes, if you had told Petunia four years ago that when she was nineteen years old, she would be getting married (let alone to a man who worked at a drill company), she would have laughed at you. In your face. Big, body shaking laughs. But there she stood in front of the mirror, the evening before her wedding.

She had gone to bed early, thinking she would need the extra sleep, especially considering how early she would need to wake up in order to make her hair appointment on time, but when lying in the dark, it was suddenly harder to fight back those so-called "pre-wedding jitters", and she had to get back up again. Petunia knew that Vernon was a good man, and she knew that he loved her more than any other man ever had, but she couldn't be sure that her feelings towards him weren't only a want for stability and the belief that it was the proper thing to do. At one point in her life, these feelings would have been easily distinguishable, but no longer.

She shook her head, trying to clear it of all doubts. It was the evening before her wedding, hardly the right time to worry about whether or not one actually want to be getting married.

To cheer herself up, she instead thought about the wedding itself, everything decorated and planned to Petunia's exact specifications. She let the images float through her head like a visual mantra. Three bridesmaids, none of whom were her freak of a sister, Lily, dressed in dark amethyst strapless gowns, with violets and white roses for their bouquets and the flower arrangements, and a three tiered cake complete with delicate lace trim and edible marzipan violets. And of course her gorgeous wedding dress… She smiled sneakily at her reflection, then. She could try it on now, just to see if it still fit. She _had_ eaten a lot at dinner. Nobody would have to know…

Petunia snuck into her closet as if she were committing a crime, stepping carefully into her dress, arranging the straps so as not to rip them. The dress was a silk organza beauty, with spaghetti straps of lace holding up the v-neckline and crossing in the back to hold up the dress around the small of her back. The lace detailing on the chest and natural waist gave the simple gown an antique flair that Petunia loved.

She looked perfect in that dress, yet as she stared into the mirror now, the only thing she saw was her sister's face four years ago, when she had received a visit from the headmaster of that blasted school, Hogwarts. Lily had been so happy, so sure that _this _was the right path for her; _this _is what she was meant to do. All Petunia could do was watch, uncertain of how this was going to change their lives, and unable to do anything to stop it. She was fifteen when Lily left for Hogwarts, and when a few weeks later an owl pecked at the window with a letter tied to its leg, Petunia pounced on it. She read through the letter twice, entranced by this world Lily told about, where food appeared on your plate out of nowhere in a dining room where the ceiling was a view of the sky outside, where you go to classes and learn things that will actually help you in life, unlike geometry, and when you're bored you can go for a walk on the grounds where there's a beautiful lake occupied by a giant squid and, it was rumored, _mermaids_. It was all there and it was real and _not _justa fairy tale, and Petunia knew in that moment that there was nowhere in the world she wanted to be as badly as she wanted to be at Hogwarts.

Petunia had then her sister's owl, Lulu, a treat and shut the window behind her, hoping she wouldn't mind taking a letter back to the Headmaster for her. She took out her best stationary, the pale pink one with Hello Kitty in the corner, and sat down to write her letter.

_Dear Headmaster Dumbledore, _she wrote, using her sister's letter as a reference for spelling.

_I don't think you remember me, but you came to my house about two months ago to visit my sister, Lily Evans, who is now attending your school. My name is Petunia Evans, and I am imploring you to allow me to attend your school. You see, I am a very good student— you can ask Lily, but if you don't believe her I can also send you a transcript of my grades. I always try my hardest, so I know that I could keep up with the other students, even though I'm not a witch like my sister. Lily says that the word for what she is is "muggle-born", meaning that she was born from non-magical parents. Well, as her sister, I too was born from non-magical parents, and I would like a chance to learn how to do magic, too. My sister sent me a letter telling me all about Hogwarts, and the Great Hall, and the classes, and the mermaids, and I know that that is where I am supposed to be. Just give me a chance—I can prove it to you. If the reason I didn't get an invitation as well was because it would cost too much money because you don't make the students pay tuition, I could give you all the money I have earned from babysitting. I promise if you give me a chance at Hogwarts, I can do what it takes to succeed. _

_Sincerely yours,_

_Petunia Evans_

A sudden tapping at the window brought Petunia's thoughts back into the present. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing at the mirror, or how long that that something had been tapping at her window. She approached the closed window slowly, absentmindedly muttering,_ "Let me see then, what the threat is, and this mystery explore—Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—'Tis the wind, and nothing more!'" _ How ironic that her college English class had only just yesterday finished the analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's, The Raven?

However, when she opened the window, in there stepped not a stately raven from the saintly days of yore, but a gray owl with a letter tied to its leg. Petunia frowned. Obviously she _had _fallen asleep earlier, and she was now dreaming. This owl was much larger and darker than her sister's, and Lily never sealed her letters with the official Hogwarts seal. The only reason she could think of to explain this owl's presence was if Lily was hurt or in trouble. But then why was the letter clearly addressed to Petunia? Yes, she was definitely dreaming.

She shook her head, carefully breaking the seal and pulling out the parchment inside. She couldn't believe the words written on the page, could barely make sense of them.

_Dear Miss Petunia Evans,_

_I hope my letter finds you well. I am sure that you remember very well the letter you sent to me when your sister, Lily, first arrived at my school. You said you wished to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—that you knew just from hearing about it that it was where you belonged. I said then that this could not be arranged. I had no doubts in your capabilities to do well in classes, or to get along with the other students, it was only your lack of magical powers that would make the classes such as charms and transfiguration impossible. I am writing to you now, however, to take back what I said. I am asking for you to attend Hogwarts—not as a student, but as a teacher. You would teach Muggle Studies, a course focused on teaching the habits, traditions, and everyday activities of muggles. You would live in the castle, be paid the same salary, and receive the same benefits as the other teachers. In every way you would be the same as any other teacher, simply without magical powers. _

_If you still feel that Hogwarts is where you are supposed to be, pack your bags and send your reply back to me as soon as possible, and I will come retrieve you from your house. You may consider this your chance to prove not only to me, but to everyone that you can succeed at whatever you wish to do. _

_Sincerely yours, _

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Petunia had the strange urge to look at the mirror and make sure that she _was _still herself, and hadn't transformed into some other girl. Dumbledore wanted _her _to teach at Hogwarts? A _muggle? _It didn't make sense to her, even if she would be teaching about being a muggle. She was still a non-magical person. Non-magical people didn't belong at Hogwarts.

"This is mad. This is some sort of cruel prank." Petunia whispered. She began to dig through her desk to find Dumbledore's first letter to her, convinced that when she compared the two she would see a difference in handwriting or some other giveaway to the trick her sister's friends were playing on her. When she put them side by side, however, she could detect no difference other than the content of the letters themselves.

Petunia read the letter a second time, and then a third, waiting for when she could understand whyhe wanted_ her_, a nineteen year old muggle, to teach at _Hogwarts, _a prestigious school for witches and wizards. It was true, a muggle would know more about "Muggle Studies" than a witch or wizard would, and Petunia was already in school to become a teacher, but did Dumbledore honestly expect her to be able to fit in in a place like that?

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm herself, and remembered how she felt when she read Lily's first letter home, how completely confident she was that Hogwarts was exactly where she belonged. Petunia couldn't remember any other time where she felt that way. She shook her head at that thought. Of course she had, she felt that way every time she was with Vernon. Eyes open once more, Petunia picked up the picture she kept of him in a frame by her bed.

Of course Petunia wasn't going to go to Hogwarts. She was going to marry Vernon tomorrow, just as everyone expected her to. They would be happy together, and safe. Petunia and Vernon, together. Forever.

"Oh, shit." She hissed, then threw the frame face-down on the bed, and ran to fetch her bags.

**AN: Mega thanks to Ladyluck over at for graciously giving me the idea for this story! All hail She Who is Unfailingly Creative! Huzzah! (; Please please please review, let me know what you like and don't like, if you like anything at all! Any feedback at all is welcome! (: **


	2. Chapter 2: New Beginnings

**Chapter Two: New Beginnings**

They were only about two week into the semester, and already the gossip was out of control, particularly regarding the upcoming arrival of the new Muggle Studies teacher. He or she was supposed to arrive within the next day or two, according to Professor Dumbledore, and the rumors were flying with excitement at the mystery of his or her coming half a month late. Some were saying the teacher needed to be released from Azkaban before he could teach, while others were convinced that Dumbledore hadn't hired anybody, and Professor Redding was going to be left subbing for the entire year. Jenna Levine swore the teacher was a pure blood wizard with an obsession with all things involving muggles, and that he even had a collection of plugs. James and Sirius were even bold enough to insist that the teacher knew everything about being a muggle because she _was_ one. Students began to get into arguments about which theory was the right one, and Lily would sigh and watch carefully, prepared to intervene or fetch a teacher if they fight turned violent.

On the night before her sister's wedding, Lily was sitting quietly in an armchair by the fire, a book laying unread in her lap, when a sudden outburst of shouting erupted from behind her. Frustrated that the entire school was so worked up about one tiny bit of intrigue, she stood up from her seat, tossing the book onto the cushion and storming over imposingly and prefect-ly to the two students arguing in the corner. Of course, Sirius Black was one of them. If he were any more like Potter he would be asking Lily out on a regular basis, as well.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked loudly, trying to be heard above the shouting. Sirius and the girl he was fighting with, a fourth year named Auden Croft, ignored her and continued their yelling.

"DON'T TELL ME YOU WERE _FRAMED_, BLACK—WHO CARES _THAT MUCH_ ABOUT GETTING YOU IN TROUBLE THAT THEY WOULD TAKE _MY_ THONG FROM MY TRUNK AND LEAVE _YOUR_ WATCH UNDER MY BED? GOD! YOU COULD AT LEAST BE A MAN AND ADMIT TO WHAT YOU DID!"

"I DIDN'T TAKE YOUR THONG, AUDEN! WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO TOUCH SOMETHING THAT AT ONE POINT WAS WEDGED UP YOUR ARSE? BESIDES, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T REALIZED, I _AM _A MAN—AND I THEREFORE CAN'T GET INTO YOUR BLOODY DORM! THE STAIRS MELT AS SOON AS I TRY!"

Auden's face fell for a moment, considering this. Lily took a breath to say something while she would still be heard, but was immediately interrupted by a sudden "HA!" from Auden, who was now pointing victoriously at Sirius. "SO YOU ADMIT IT! YOU _HAVE_ TRIED TO SNEAK INTO MY DORM! I KNEW IT!"

"Err…" Sirius faltered, now looking somewhere over Lily's shoulder. She turned around, surprised to see Professor McGonagall standing there, highly disapproving look on her face.

"Lily, would you come with me, please?"

"It wasn't me, Professor! It was Black and Croft; I was just trying to stop them!" Lily blanched.

McGonagall waved this away, replying, "I'm sure, but that isn't what I wished to speak with you about."

Lily followed her toward the portrait hole, asking, when they reached it, "aren't you going to do anything about the fight?"

McGonagall gave a thin lipped smile. "I think they've cleared the matter up just fine on their own."

Lily turned to look at the two to see that they had indeed cleared up their issues, as Auden was now pressed against the wall, Sirius' body on hers, their lips moving violently against one another. Lily blushed. "Err… right, they have..."

When they reached the end of the hall, Professor McGonagall placed a hand on Lily's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Miss Evans, but Professor Dumbledore has asked me to inform you that tomorrow you will not be attending your sister's wedding—it has been cancelled."

Lily felt relief wash over her like a summer rain. "So there _is _a God," she whispered to herself. McGonagall looked at her, confused.

"I'm sorry, Miss Evans, but I rather expected you to be upset by this news! You do understand what this means, don't you?"

Lily nodded, asking "Did Professor Dumbledore say why? Can I talk to him?" As much as Lily was relieved that her sister wasn't going to make the biggest mistake of her life, she needed reassurance that her sister was alright, and that she was making this decision rationally—not because of a silly argument or something.

"No, he is away getting the new Muggle Studies teacher, and won't be back till later tonight. All he said was that the wedding had been cancelled, so you needn't take the train home tomorrow." McGonagall eyed Lily shrewdly, attempting to analyze her strange behavior.

"Oh, alright then. I'll just talk to him later, then."

"Yes, tomorrow. Curfew is in just a few minutes."

"Of course," Lily said, slightly disappointed. She turned to walk back to walk to her dorm, free of her old worries but filled with new ones as well. She no longer needed to worry about her sister spending her life bored-to-tears, but what had caused her to change her mind?

'_Did she just get cold feet? Or is there something more to this? If Vernon hurt her, I _will _make sure he pays…' _She thought, somewhat surprised at the degree of her protective feelings for Petunia, who rarely said a kind thing to Lily. However, some things, like protecting your family, are more important than petty arguments and jealousy.

These were the thoughts that played through Lily's head as she attempted to revise her potions essay that night, until she decided that it was late enough—Dumbledore couldn't possibly still be gone, and wasn't the sort of man to worry about rules when it came to family problems. However, she didn't think it would be very beneficial to her reputation if she was caught by anyone on her way to his office, which meant one thing: it was time to visit James Potter.

When Petunia was packed, she wrote a quick note to Dumbledore, a little frustrated that he had waited this long to send her the letter, considering that she only had about ten hours for her message to arrive to Dumbledore and for him to come and fetch her. She knew if she told her parents where she was going in person they would try and stop her, and make her see reason. Quite frankly, though, Petunia didn't want to see reason. She wanted to stop drifting along, doing what people expected her to do, and start doing what _she _wanted to do, even if it wasn't what anybody anticipated.

She tied the letter to the owl's foot distractedly, wondering if she should maybe wait outside, so that if it looked like Dumbledore was coming too late, she could still run away, and try and contact Dumbledore from there. However, no sooner than she had shut the window behind the owl than a small _pop!_ Sounded from behind her, and there stood the man that she had seen in her living room, talking to Lily all those years ago. Same silly robes (though they were a shiny blue now, rather than purple), same funny pointed hat, same ridiculous beard…

"Well, that was fast," Petunia said, for lack of words. "I only just sent the owl; you couldn't have possibly received my letter yet?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I was planning on coming whether I received a reply or not," He whispered conspiratorially with a wink.

Petunia was still at a loss for what to say. Reading the letter was one thing, but seeing Dumbledore standing there in her bedroom was another thing entirely. Luckily, Dumbledore knew what to do, and pulled out his wand, levitating the trunks she had piled by the door. Petunia had to stare. He glanced around the room, and then asked, "Are you planning on leaving a note for your family? Or would you rather they assume you have been taken from your window?"

Petunia cringed. "They would assume I was running from the altar. Which in a way, I am…" She shook her head quickly, trying not to feel guilty. "But I'll let them know where I am."

Dumbledore nodded serenely, sitting on one of her flying trunks, looking disconcertingly at ease hovering in the air. "Take your time."

Petunia took two pieces of Hello Kitty stationary, for old time's sake, and then began writing.

On the first sheet she wrote,

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't have told you this in person, but I think that if I did, you would try and stop me. I've been offered a teaching position at Hogwarts, and I am going to take it. Headmaster Dumbledore doesn't care if I'm not a witch—we'll work things out somehow. I'll be able to fix things with Lily, now, and get a new start on my life. I don't love Vernon. I am never going to love Vernon. You can tell him I've left to teach at Lily's boarding school, and give him the letter I wrote for him. I love you both; please don't worry about me. I'll write often._

_Love,_

_Petunia __Evans_

On the second piece of paper, addressed to Vernon, she wrote

_Vernon Dursley,_

_I will not marry you. I do not love you, nor will I ever. I shouldn't have let our relationship go on for as long as I did. I'm sure you'll be happy someday, married to a woman who actually wants to hear your stories about the God forsaken drill company. _

_Thanks for everything, _

_Petunia Evans_

She stifled the urge to write "PS: the sex sucked," and left the two letters next to Vernon's picture, which was still face-down on the mattress. She walked over at Dumbledore, who was humming softly to himself, and declared "I think I'm ready to go."

"Very well, then! I'm going to ask you to hold on tightly to my arm, now. This is going to be slightly uncomfortable…"

Petunia did so… and then they imploded. Or at least that's what it felt like to her—like all the air in the world had vanished and her insides were collapsing in this new vacuum. She was choking, she was dying, she was… extremely uncomfortable. But then it was over, as suddenly as it had started, and Petunia was then breathing deeply, sure that she would never take oxygen for granted again, in a finely furnished office. She stared in wonder around her, conjecturing about the uses for the different funny looking trinkets that cluttered the room, and attempting to find the sources of the soft snoring.

Dumbledore smiled at her delighted expression, and motioned for her to sit in the chair across the desk from his throne-like seat. When she did so, the headmaster began to speak.

"There are a few things I need to tell you of before I take you to get settled into your rooms. Firstly, there are many charms placed on this castle in order to provide security for its inhabitants. Security from dark wizards and other malevolent forces, but also from muggles such as yourself. If any non-magical person besides yourself were to look at the castle, they would see a bunch of ruins and signs warning them against trespassing. If they were to touch anything they would instantly remember a very urgent appointment and leave straight away. And so on." He waved his hand casually, as if he wasn't changing Petunia's entire world at that moment. "But because it would be rather awkward for our Muggle Studies teacher to not be able to see her own classroom, I have altered the spell so that _you _can see the castle just as well as any witch or wizard."

He cleared his throat, looking as if he didn't want to say what was coming next. "However. The castle is protected from muggle sight for a reason. If it was known that there were witches and wizards in the world, there would be an uproar. People do outlandish things out of jealousy, or want of power," he said, looking meaningfully at the nineteen year old before him. "And while I am confident you wouldn't give us away to the public, and even if you did it is unlikely that anyone would believe you, the fact is that many people at Hogwarts will likely not agree with me on this point. What I mean to say is that it will be harder for you to earn the trust of your colleagues and students than is fair for anybody. Sadly, there are many people in the wizarding world who believe in 'purity of blood'. They treat others cruelly on the basis that they are somehow less of a witch or wizard because one or both of their parents or even grandparents were not of magical decent. I implore that you don't let them make you feel any less worthy of being here than you truly are, and if anyone gives you any trouble at all, do not hesitate to ask me for assistance."

Petunia swallowed, wondering what she had gotten herself into. "Please, Professor… I'm just a little nervous. There won't ever be a time when I can't do something because I'm a muggle, will there?" She fiddled with the end of her brown braid as she asked.

Dumbledore smiled reassuringly. "There will be instances where asking for help from somebody will make a task easier for you, but never will there be a time when you cannot do something simply because you aren't a witch." Petunia nodded, only slightly reassured. Dumbledore chuckled. "Come," he said, standing, "I'll take you to your room."

**AN: Thank you for the reviews I am already beginning to receive! I was so excited when I saw them that I decided I would write another chapter! See how this game works? For you physics nerds, you could consider reviews to be the equivalent of force, and the rate at which I update to be the equivalent of acceleration. And does not an increase in force result in an increase in acceleration? Yes! It does! Because F=ma! Therefore, review more, and I'll update more, and faster! Yay!**


	3. Chapter 3: Exploration

**Chapter Three: Exploration**

"James? Jamesie darling? Sirius said you were up here?" Lily called faux-sweetly when she entered the fifth year boys' dormitory. The other boys were still downstairs, huddled around some piece of parchment, (she was too disgusted to even _think_ of what they might be looking at so excitedly, let alone to confiscate it) and they had told her Potter had gone up to his room to "read". She was sure this was code for something, but didn't bother wasting her mental competence by thinking of anything involving Potter.

"Lily?" James said incredulously. He was spread out on his bed, a book lying open on his chest. _Jane Eyre. _Hmm. Lily was sure he had just charmed a different cover onto a quidditch book or something.

Lily sauntered over to his bedside, feeling silly having to ask Potter for something for once, and not sure how to go about it. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

He sounded entirely too hopeful for Lily's taste. She decided to mess with him a little. "I want you to have your way with me, James. Right here, right now. I'm sick of pretending not to be attracted to you. I don't think I can handle all this sexual tension any longer!" She placed her hands on his mattress, and gathered up the fabric in her fists.

"What?!" James yelped, sitting up in bed. Lily took advantage of the newly freed space, and crawled onto the end of his bed on all fours, licking her lips. He was too distracted staring at her gorgeous body and attempting to control himself to notice that Lily's eyes were no longer on his, but on his trunk on the floor. She had eyed the trunk's contents several times when she realized it wasn't there. Lily was frustrated enough to end her silly game with Potter.

"Where the hell is it!?" she snapped.

James, completely lost now and partially convinced that he was having a very good (if not hard to follow) dream, shouted again "What!?" Lily threw back her hair, which really didn't help James get a hold of his hormones, and exasperatedly replied "Your invisibility cloak."

James said nothing.

Lily huffed. "I know you have one. Most of the pranks you and your friends pull would be impossible without it. I would have confiscated it by now or told Dumbledore, but I figured I could talk you into letting me borrow it sometime. Like right now."

James still said nothing, but this time reached a hand under his pillow and pulled out a silvery wad of fabric. "Use it well," he said, smiling.

Lily took the cloak suspiciously. "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm using it for?"

James chuckled softly, still eyeing her body, to Lily's surpri—err, disgust. "I would much rather just imagine that one for myself,"

Lily rolled her eyes and wrapped herself in the cloak, amazed when she could no longer see her feet. She tiptoed quietly over to James, who was still looking at the spot where Lily had disappeared, waiting for the sound of her shoes leaving the room. Still on her toes, Lily stretched up to whisper seductively into James' ear, "See you later, Potter."The look of surprise on his face was priceless, and Lily left the dormitory happily, making sure to open the portrait hole quickly so as to avoid attracting attention.

She would just run down to Dumbledore's office and make sure her sister was okay, then come right back up again, give Potter back his cloak, and go to bed. This all would have been well and good if, on the sixth floor landing, she hadn't run into Mrs. Norris, Filch's apparent aid in castle security. The cat seemed to stare at her with lamp-like eyes, despite the invisibility cloak. She moved to walk around the cat and continue down to the first floor, but the Mrs. Norris' head turned as if to watch her pass, and then, to Lily's horror, the cat began to _meow. Loudly. _It seemed that this meowing was a siren, or perhaps something more like the beep of a motion detector, as Filch could soon be heard coming down the hall.

_Shit_.

Lily sprinted down the stairs, turning down the hall on the fifth floor and entering the second to last room at random, hoping it would be empty. She was frustrated to find it wasn't a room at all, but a broom cupboard; her hasty entrance had knocked over several of the supplies there, loudly giving away her hiding place. Lily hit the wall with her fist angrily. _'Of course, the one time I break the rules, and I'm going to get in trouble for it!' _she thought.

However, when Lily removed her hand from the wall to try and rub the pain out of her fingers, the wall pushed to the side for her, revealing a steep staircase. Lily stared at it, wondering if she should…

"Who's there?!" Filch shouted from not far outside her door, making up Lily's mind for her. She lit the tip of her wand and started down the steps, the wall shutting behind her. She really hoped the staircase didn't lead somewhere that would only get her into _more _trouble…

It stopped, however, at an ordinary door, which led to yet another broom cupboard—this one, she was guessing, on the fourth floor. When the door shut behind her, it melted into the wall until you couldn't tell it was there anymore. Hmm. Convenient. She considered telling James about it as a "thank you" for letting her borrow the cloak.

After listening at the door for a full minute, she snuck out the door, satisfied when she recognized it as the fourth floor corridor. She was opposite the hall from the stairs—all she had to do was walk over there and down three more floors and she could just talk to Dumbledore and get this all over with. No sooner had she taken three steps, however, than she yet again heard someone approaching. This time she recognized the voice as Dumbledore's, and the blasted cat was nowhere to be found, so instead of running away again, she decided to take the chance and come out from under the cloak to talk to him. He wasn't alone, though, and Lily's plan didn't account for the arrival of her older sister—her older _muggle _sister.

Lily gasped, the sound managing to hiss out before she could stifle it with her hands. Petunia didn't notice, but Dumbledore did. She hoped he would blame it on the wind, or Peeves, or _something_, but as per usual it seemed that Dumbledore was much too wise for his own good, and stared directly at her. _'Damn this faulty invisibility cloak!' _

He began to talk about curfews, addressing Petunia but clearly speaking to Lily, and yet she couldn't hear what he was saying. Because Lily realized now what Dumbledore and Petunia were doing there. As if to prove her point, Dumbledore led her sister into the Muggle Studies classroom, and lit the candelabras for Petunia to see. Dumbledore _had _gone to get the new professor. And James was right—the Muggle Studies teacher _was _a muggle. Most shocking to Lily yet, though, was the fact that Petunia had opted not to marry Vernon Dursley because she was becoming a professor at Hogwarts.

If Lily hadn't already been running back up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, she would have fainted. As it were, she arrived in the common room panting and pale white. It was empty, everyone having gone up to their dorms already, so Lily ripped the cloak off and flitted up to the fifth year boys' dorm, taking the stairs two at a time. She didn't bother knocking on their door, instead preferring to slam the door open against the wall, effectively waking up all the boys in the room. They all shouted random profanities and sat up in their beds, pulling back their hangings violently.

"Lily? Is this some kind of _prank_?" James asked, stumbling out of bed and over to her.

Lily shook her head quickly and shoved the cloak back at him, saying "I found a hidden stairway between two broom cupboards; the second to last on the right side of the fifth floor corridor-- just hit the back wall. In case you didn't know yet. And your cloak is defective, by the way. Both Mrs. Norris _and _Dumbledore saw me."

James took the cloak and threw it on his bed, more concerned about Lily's poor condition. "Is that why you're so upset now? Are you worried you'll get in trouble? They can't give you detention or anything unless they actually _see _you…"

Lily shook her head again, looking down at her feet, as the ground began to sway beneath her. "I'm in shock. My muggle sister Petunia is the new Muggle Studies teacher." This time, she did faint.

Petunia followed him down a spiral staircase, into a huge room Dumbledore called the "Entrance Hall". She was flabbergasted at the enormous marble staircase before her, the incredibly high ceilings, and the elaborately framed paintings covering the walls. A particularly pretty work of art caught her eye—at first she thought because it was of a vase of violets, her favorite flower, but then she noticed a silver hand in the corner grabbing at a stem and pulling it into the neighboring frame, in which a medieval knight looked very out of place offering his violet to a cruelly laughing Aphrodite.

Petunia stared, transfixed. Lily had told her the paintings moved, but it was one thing to be told that, and another to see it for herself. She was beginning to realize that she was going to have to abandon her pride quickly, as for the next couple of days she would obviously be making a fool out of herself, gaping whenever anyone did anything slightly magical.

She shrugged to herself and continued on her way, heading up the stairs where Dumbledore waited for her, humming again. Petunia found his behavior rather like that of a bumble bee's, as she pictured him wandering around the halls, humming to himself.

Trying to memorize all the things Dumbledore was telling her about the location of different rooms and such, Petunia didn't notice the small sound that came from the corner of the corridor they were currently in. Dumbledore, however, did, and stared at one precise spot, continuing his speech to Petunia as if nothing had changed. "As I was saying before my thought trailed off… These halls are very busy during the day, as students move between classes, but after nine o'clock they must be in their respective common rooms, or they _will _receive detentions and lose house points." His eyes still did not move from that point in space. Petunia was a little worried that the Headmaster actually _was_ as mad as she had pretended to believe he was for these past four years. "If you see or hear someone in the halls who isn't a teacher or house elf, follow him or her, and either take them to their Head of House, to Filch if he's near, or to me. We will take it from there."

Finally, he looked back to Petunia and smiled, as if he hadn't just proven to Petunia that he was off his rocker. "Come along, now, your classroom and your personal rooms are right through here." She followed him into the third door on the right. The room was dark, but Dumbledore lit the candelabras around the room with a flick of his wand, and suddenly Petunia could see two rows of long tables, and a blackboard at the front of the room beside a large desk that she assumed was now hers. On the board was a disproportionate drawing of a lighter and a box of matches. Petunia sighed. She was going to have her work cut out for her.

Beginning to get nervous again, Petunia moved towards the door that sat closed behind her desk. Dumbledore waited for her in the classroom as she entered her personal chambers, gasping when she realized that in these rooms, there was electricity. She was cheered considerably by the sight of outlet plugs and light switches, and shouted a truly grateful "Thank you, Dumbledore!" She was sure none of the other teachers' rooms had electricity. They could use magic to light their rooms, but she couldn't.

After she began to get used to the prospect of having control over things like lighting at least in her private rooms, she took in the rest of the space. There were three rooms—a sort of great room which contained a small galley kitchen, complete with muggle appliances like an oven and a stove, a living area with a comfortable-looking couch and loveseat set and a wall of bookshelves, and a small table and two chairs in the dining area. Then another door led to an elegant bedroom featuring a large four poster queen-sized bed and an armoire, and yet another door to the right took her into the surprisingly spacious bathroom. She looked at it all, smiling in marvel, and couldn't help but run back out into the classroom to give Dumbledore a hug.

"Thank you," she said, genuinely. "You've made me feel more like a welcome guest than an employee. You don't need to be so accommodating!"

Dumbledore chuckled at this outburst, and assured Petunia that he treated all of his employees this way.

Petunia beamed, positive that she wouldn't be able to find a better boss if she tried.

**AN: So Lily now knows that Petunia is going to be teaching at her school! She was quite dramatic in her reaction, I know, but that shall be explained in Chapter Four. I'm very excited-- we're getting to the good stuff (: Keep up with the reviews! They make my day! Look forward to an update in the near future (;**


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